About 10,000 years ago, humans started to walk cross
the Bering Strait, pushing southward to populate the Americas. On
December 11, 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada released its
judgment in the case, Delgamuukw vs. British Columbia, defining
the rights of those Aboriginal people vis-à-vis later arrivals
who came by ship from another direction. The majority decision
was written by Chief Justice Antonio Lamer, who retired two years
later. Four judges concurred with him; two added their own finer
points. Beyond the Art Deco marble walls of the courthouse, the
media and public reaction at the time reflected no obvious
consensus. Responses ranged from jubilant vindication to
apocalyptic warnings. One might have expected as much, given the
immense scope of Lamer's decision. At its core, the Delgamuukw
decision judges what our long past shall now mean as Canadians
decide upon serious issues of the ownership and use of land,
economic development, governance and social relations-issues that
will affect every Canadian, in every corner of the country.

The national significance of Delgamuukw case prompted the Fraser
Institute to hold two conferences on the issue, the first in
Vancouver in July 1998 and a second and larger one in Ottawa in
April 1999. This book contains the papers and proceedings of
those two events.